I've found my future tailor from now on and he is incredible.
When I got invited to 4 weddings this year (one of them being my brother's), I knew I was gonna need to do better than the 90's style Moore's suit I had in my closet. It was time to get something bespoke/custom made.
I did a TON of research on google, read a mountain of reviews and Sam's Menswear kept popping up consistently with very excellent ratings.
I had originally booked a first fitting appointment at Indochino inside Yorkdale Mall, but after witnessing the absolute horror show they produced on my brother's initial tux measurements (and coupled with the rather large number of mixed reviews I saw online), I was thoroughly spooked and decided that it was too high of a risk to let them make a suit for me so I quickly cancelled my appointment and immediately booked an appointment with Sam.
Sam comes from a family lineage of seamstresses who've been in the fabric and sewing trade for three generations. He was very patient when I talked to him and we discussed fabric first. He told me the #1 rule of bespoke tailoring is that the fabric choice is the most important thing to get right.
Truth be told, I was looking for something decent around $1k in terms of budget. When I told him this, he said that if I got something in the $1500-2k range, I'd be getting a suit 5 times the quality of something around $700-800. I'd like to point out that there was absolutely no upselling on his part which I truly appreciated. He simply laid out multiple options that I could decide to go and I did end up following his advice.
I settled on Vitale Barberis Canonico flannel in navy blue colour with gold lining and dark blue infold trim on the inside (it was a majestic thing of beauty). VBC has been in the fabrics business for over 3 centuries and Sam said that the material has stood the test of time. He also told me the navy blue suit colour I picked was a great choice because of its versatility with inner shirt colours, tie colours and also had the most dress shoe pairings.
In addition to the outerwear, Sam recommended a light blue dress shirt for 3 of my upcoming weddings and a white dress shirt for my brother's because it would look more formal for a family function. He had originally wanted to include french cuffs (with cuff links) on my shirts but after telling him that I get hot often and like to roll my sleeves up a lot, he told me it was no problem getting regular cuffs slapped on.
I was also able to choose the specific buttons I wanted on the suit jacket and dress shirts as well as a specific lapel and shirt collars.
After finalizing all the look details, Sam took my measurements carefully and told me that it would take roughly a month for the suit to arrive.
When it did, the suit jacket fit perfectly. My pants were definitely too tight around the butt and thighs but all it took was 1 waist alteration which he kindly did for me and everything fit perfectly because it dropped my inseam nicely. I really loved the the way the fabric felt to the touch and the custom engravings he had embroidered into my shirt cuffs and the inside of my jacket just gave the whole suit such a PREMIUM feel. For all prospective customers, any alterations Sam will do for free. He is not the nickel-and-diming type of person.
I just finished attending the 4th wedding back in July and I am so satisfied with my suit. I'm happy that I went out on a limb to cancel my Indochino appointment to see Sam. Any new suit purchase I make from now on will be through him. He's my guy now for all things bespoke.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TAILOR.
P.S. Looks like I'll be attending a 5th wedding next week as I got invited by a guest at the 4th wedding LOL. read more